First hawk is an adult female passage bird. She was adult and have very bad condition when my friend get her (from some keeper that catch her and keep her in small cage). There are lots of defect with her… there are scar on her face and somehow her nerve is not in good condition anymore.

Female Crested Goshawk

Since he have bad experience with human, it take a month for me to manned and train her. Even after a month, she is still hesitate to come sometimes… (by the way, she is very moody). Luckily after 2 month she show her true form and she become an impressive ‘hunter’… I never expect a hawk with the condition to become a fierce hunter like her… She is very brave to catch a very large moorhen… the moorhen is even larger than her… she try to grab the moorhen but because of the size, the moorhen manage to drag her to the pond nearby and she nearly drown. She is also fast enough to catch a common mynah. She ‘run away’ few month back… due to a pair of kites that chase her away from my friend house. (I guess the pair have some nest nearby that is why there are more aggressive toward any other bird of prey in that area)… I wish her luck and hope she have a good life out there… and I am sure she will… since she is a passage bird… and compared to the time she come to me, her condition is totally different.

The second hawk that I train this year is an adult male passage hawk. He is very nice, I think this is the nicest Crested Goshawk that I encounter so far…She is sweet and fast… very good behavior… She fly free by the first week I train her (the owner sent to me the second day the trapper catch her)… and she went to hunting the second week! I suspect she is the record for all passage crested Goshawk (because normally it take more than 2 week for hawk to be able to go hunting). At first the owner plan to breed her with the first hawk that I train. They get along very well and always call to each other. Too bad the female left.

The third crested goshawk that I train this year is a young passage male hawk. She is more stubborn and only eat on my fist on the forth day I get her! Having said that, by the seventh day, she is very calm and socialize well with everyone… the different is that she didn’t like to sit on the bow perch… but on the ground… the owner take it back and will continue to fly her… deep inside me, I think she have a big potential to be a fierce hunter looking at the way she come to my fist and grab the meat…
And till the forth hawk coming… I wish all falconer out there good luck… (I will update this ‘training story” again if I have the chances to train the forth one this year)

The main concern that I have is that the bird didn’t survive when reach my country… hopefully they are sturdy enough to survive.

I have checked, the airport from that country to my country… due to 2 transit, the time it take (for a human) will be around 27 hour to 36 hour! I am not sure about the animals though…

Wish me luck…

If I able to bring them in, I hope I can try to breed them… it is too precious if just keep them without breeding them since they will need to travel half the world to me.

However, since my budget is very small and I also thinking of getting the african hawk eagle, it make me a bit confuse. By the way, I received another quotation for African hawk eagle… which is USD 4800 per head C&F my nearest airport. It seem like if we have money, there are lots of thing we can get..

Back to the African Goshawk, I proceed to send application letter to my local veterinary department. I am not very sure if currently my country have allowed import from Africa or not… if not, then no choice but I have to wait… until the bird flu is really over.

During checking out the species (African Goshawk), seem like they are very capable and willing bird. One of posting in international falconry forum mention that they can take a guinea fowl which weight more than a kilogram… even the hawk weight is not even half a kilogram! That is very impressive.

One more things is that this species seem like capable of catching up with the common mynah! There are lots of common mynah in my location and with this species, it would be a great outing for me.

Some may ask what is the different (hunting) capabilities between African Goshawk and Asian crested Goshawk… well, their size is about the same. I haven’t fly any African Goshawk, but I do fly Crested Goshawk. If African Goshawk is capable of getting all species that many falconer in Africa talk about, then the differences of hunting capabilities between them are large! (having said that, in some location like Taiwan, the Crested Goshawk is larger compared to Crested Goshawk in South East Asian) Crested Goshawk in South East Asian is smaller and the quarries that they take also smaller.

Crested Goshawk rarely able to get common mynah. The only way for them to get it is if the condition is very upperhand for them like the mynah is not ready, they are wet etc.

Well, lets hope I can get some African Goshawk in my collection… and you can hear more comment about the comparation.

Here is a video of hunting with Crested Goshawk:

Enjoy!

I have made the order and now waiting for the CITES and all the necessary document. Hopefully everthing is fine and I can get a good quality bird soonest…

Here is some information about african hawk eagle in wiki.

The African Hawk Eagle (Aquila spilogastra) is a large bird of prey. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae.

The African Hawk Eagle breeds in tropical Sub-Saharan Africa. It is a bird of wooded hills, building a stick nest about 3 feet (almost 1 meter) in diameter in the fork of a large tree. The clutch is generally one or two eggs.

This is a small to medium-sized eagle at about 55–65 cm in length. The upper parts are blackish. Its underparts are white heavily streaked with black. The underwing flight feathers are white with a black trailing edge. The underwing coverts are mostly black with white spots.

Sexes are similar, but young birds are brown above and rufous coloration replaces the black underparts of the adult.

The African Hawk Eagle hunts small mammals, reptiles, and birds up to the size of a francolin. The call is a shrill kluu-kluu-kluu.

Once I got my African Hawk Eagle… the fun will start again… I will try to post the update about the training and hunting…

Here is some photo of the eagle…

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:     Animalia
Phylum:     Chordata
Class:     Aves
Subclass:     Neornithes
Infraclass:     Neognathae
Superorder:     Neoaves
Order:     Falconiformes (or Accipitriformes, q.v.)
Family:     Accipitridae
Genus:     Spizaetus
Species:     S. melanoleucus
Binomial name
Spizaetus melanoleucus
(Vieillot, 1816)
Synonyms

Buteo melanoleucus Vieillot, 1816
Spizastur melanoleucus (Vieillot, 1816)

The Black-and-white Hawk-eagle (Spizaetus melanoleucus, formerly Spizastur melanoleucus) is a bird of prey species in the eagle and hawk family (Accipitridae). It is found throughout a large part of tropical America, from southern Mexico to northern Argentina.
Contents

Description

As its name suggest, this is a black and white eagle, resembling the small typical eagles sometimes separated in “Hieraaetus”. It is some 20-24 in (50-60 cm) long overall and weighs about 30 oz (850 g). The head, neck and body are white; a small crest forms a black spot on top of the head, and the area around the eyes, particularly towards the bill, is also black. The wings are black, and the bird has a brownish tail barred black-dark grey and with white tip. The iris is orange, the feet pale to bright yellow with black talons. The bill is black with a yellow cere.

The sexes are alike in color, but the female is larger. Immature birds have pale edges on the upperwing coverts and some brownish-grey feathers on the back.

The Black-and-white Hawk-eagle is hard to confuse with any other bird in its range. The Black-faced Hawk (Leucopternis melanops) is very similar in overall coloration, but it is much smaller and has a black tail with a single bold white bar in the middle. The Ornate Hawk-Eagle (Spizaetus ornatus), presumably a very close relative of S. melanoleucus, looks quite similar when young. However, the wings, back and tail are much lighter in young S. ornatus, and they do not have the black eye-ring.

Distribution and ecology

This species occurs from Oaxaca to Veracruz in southern Mexico southwards throughout Central America, with the exception of most of El Salvador and the Pacific coast of Nicaragua. In South America, it occurs on the Pacific side of the Andes south to Ecuador. The bulk of its range extends along the Caribbean coast from northern Colombia and Venezuela to the Guianas, and south through eastern Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay to NE Argentina, and from there westwards again to Beni and Santa Cruz in NE Bolivia. A Black-and-white Hawk-eagle population is also found in the Loreto Region of NE Peru; it is not known in how far this is isolated from the rest of the bird’s range. The species is absent from western Amazonia, and it is not common in the lands to the east (e.g. in Minas Gerais).

Its natural habitats are lowland forests of any type, though very dense and humid as well as savanna-like semiarid habitat are not preferred. Habitat fragmentation is not very well tolerated; though the species prefers a diverse habitat of mixed forest and shrubland, it requires large stands of closed-canopy forest to thrive. Its range does not extend very far into the uplands, but one individual was sighted at an altitude of about 4,000 ft (c.1,200 m) ASL in the Buena Vista Nature Reserve in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.

The food of this carnivore consists of mammals, toads, squamates and in particular a wide variety of birds. Among the latter, it is known to prefer tree-living species, such as oropendolas, aracaris, tanagers and cotingas. But ground- and waterbirds like tinamous, chachalacas, cormorants and the highly threatened Brazilian Merganser (Mergus octosetaceus) have also been recorded as its prey. The Black-and-white Hawk-eagle has been known to attack small monkeys, though it is not clear with which intent. For as it seems, it has not been recorded to actually kill and eat a monkey.

Its preferred hunting technique is to soar high until it has spotted suitable prey, and then dive down on it, usually right into the forest canopy, but it has also been observed to catch a White Woodpecker (Melanerpes candidus) that had been mobbing it in mid-air, after lauching itself from its perch. It likes to hunt along ridges and forest edges where it can access the canopy-level from an oblique direction rather than just from directly above, and where ground-living prey is also more accessible.

It nests in the forest canopy, building a stick nest high up in exposed trees on ridges and similar locations, from where good hunting grounds can be watched. Detailed observations on its nesting habits are nearly non-existent however. In Panama, birds started to construct a nest in September, during a dry spell in the rainy season. But the main nesting season may start before the onset of the rainy season as the nesting attempt was abandoned when heavy rains recommenced. The scant other data agrees with this, and at least in Central America the nesting season seems to run from March to June or so.

There is a general lack of information on the Black-and-white Hawk-eagle’s movements and population status. Each bird seems to require a hunting territory of about 3,500 acres (1,400 hectars) at least. While the variety of habitat types in which it is found suggests that it is not particularly susceptible to changes in land use, it is apparently still a rare and local species almost anywhere in its range. The IUCN until 2000 classified it as a Near Threatened species due to the uncertainties surrounding its status, but as no evidence of a marked decline has been found and as the bird is found across a wide range, it was downlisted to a Species of Least Concern.

Taxonomy and systematics

This species is often placed in the monotypic genus Spizastur, but has recently been moved to Spizaetus e.g. by the American Ornithologists’ Union, as it appears that the Ornate Hawk-Eagle (S. ornatus) is its sister taxon[6]. This has created quite some taxonomic confusion, which has largely gone unnoticed however:

Originally, the name Spizaetus melanoleucus was given by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot to the Black-chested Eagle-buzzard (or “buzzard-eagle”) in 1819, while the Black-and-white Hawk-eagle had been described in 1816 by the very same scientist as Buteo melanoleucus. The former species was placed in Geranoaetus – also a monotypic genus – in 1844, while the Black-and-white Hawk-eagle had been moved out of Buteo and into Spizastur a few years earlier.

Thus, the identical specific names never came into direct conflict until recently. But the Black-chested Eagle-buzzard’s placement in a monotypic genus was always disputed, and several authors treated it in Buteo[8]. However, they overlooked that Buteo melanoleucus was the original name of the Black-and-white Hawk-eagle and thus as a senior homonym could not be applied to the later-described species. The correct specific name for the Black-chested Eagle-buzzard when placed in Buteo, Buteo fuscescens, was reestablished in the mid-20th century for a short time more by accident than anything else[9]; as most late-20th-century researchers argued for retaining Geranoaetus, this name was dismissed as erroneous and essentially forgotten.

As the Black-and-white Hawk-eagle has not been placed in Buteo since long, Article 59.3 of the ICZN Code applies. According to this, a junior homonym replaced before 1961 is not rendered permanently invalid (as junior homonyms usually are) if “the substitute name is not in use”[11] – which has been the case after Amadon’s 1963 revision. Hence, in this case the scientific name Buteo melanoleucus can apply to the Black-chested Eagle-buzzard, even though the Black-and-white Hawk-eagle was described under exactly that name earlier, while the senior homonym melanoleucus still applies to the latter species when placed in Spizaetus according to the usual ICZN rules. Consequently, the proper name to use for each bird has through a number of coincidences become the senior synonym of the other species.

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:     Animalia
Phylum:     Chordata
Class:     Aves
Order:     Falconiformes
Family:     Accipitridae
Genus:     Spizaetus
Species:     S. tyrannus
Binomial name
Spizaetus tyrannus
(Wied, 1820)

The Black Hawk-Eagle (Spizaetus tyrannus), also known as the Tyrant Hawk-Eagle,[1] is a species of eagle found from central Mexico to eastern Peru, the south of Brazil, and far northern Argentina. Its preferred habitats include humid and moist forests close to rivers, and several types of woodland. It is uncommon to fairly common throughout most of its range.

It has black plumage with varying patterns on its wings and body, and white speckling in places. It has barred wings, slightly elliptical in shape, and a long, narrow tail which is rarely fanned. The four grey bars on the tail are distinctive to the Black Hawk-Eagle, as is the white line seen slightly above the bird’s eye. While flying, the broadness and shortness of the wings become apparent.While in flight, the bird’s tail is typically kept closed.

Diet

Though light and small compared to other members of its genus, this bird mainly eats opossums and monkeys, as well as, occasionally, small bats and birds. Its popular name in Brazil is “Gavião-pega-macaco”, which means “monkey-catching hawk”. The birds it takes can be quite large, such as toucans,and chachalacas.The dietary habits of the Black Hawk-Eagle, however, remain mostly unknown, with very few records of the bird eating.

Breeding

Like its diet, the Black Hawk-Eagle’s breeding behaviour is little known other than some details relating to its nest: composed of sticks and possibly other materials, the nest is around one metre and a half in total diameter and is usually constructed in tall trees, often around fifteen metres high. The variety of tree chosen probably varies greatly, but they have been observed chiefly in pine trees.

This young barn owl is one in a million after being born with a rare genetic condition that has made her feathers jet black.

Sable, who is two years old, suffers from melanism, a 100,000-to-one gene mutation that makes her the exact opposite to an albino.

Dark-hued owls are normally killed at birth by their confused mothers but Sable was born in captivity and so she survived, meaning she is one of only three in existence in Britain.

However, her unusual colouring means she would die if released into the wild. Baroness Sasa Vonbarth und Kippenruer, who runs the Hereford Owl Rescue, described Sable as “peculiar” but “very beautiful”.

She said: “Sable is very peculiar or I suppose you could say a freak of nature because melanistic owls are usually killed at birth or chucked out of the nest by their mothers.

“The parents think that because a chick is not white they shouldn’t feed it. However, she is captive bred as were her parents so she survived.

“Strangely Sable is much stronger than a normal barn owl whereas an albino is much weaker and has a very bad immune system.

“However, if she got out into the wild she’d be dead within 12 hours. You would think black would work at night but in reality she would be mobbed and killed by other owls.”

Unlike albinos, the two-year-old, who is 10in tall and has a wingspan of 30in, is stronger than the average barn owl because of her genetic condition.

She is currently being looked after by the Hereford Owl Sanctuary, a charitable organisation that rescues injured owls before reintroducing them into the wild.

Barn owls had been in decline in Britain but are making a comeback with 8,000 breeding pairs in the wild.

(source of the news is http://www.telegraph.co.uk )

The announcement was made Thursday (Oct. 23) at the dedication of the latest nesting tower, built in Ocean City. Mayor Salvatore Perillo and other local dignitaries attended the event.

“We all know if you build it, they will come.” said Dennis Bone, president of Verizon New Jersey. “In this case, ospreys and their offspring keep coming and coming, to the delight of area residents and others concerned about fostering and protecting the environment. Several of the osprey towers that we’ve helped build in New Jersey are now occupied, and we are proud to play a role in building even more.” Bone said.

In addition to providing the funds for the new nesting tower in Ocean City, Verizon is providing grants of $500 each to Dennis Township, Linwood and Stone Harbor for materials, construction, installation and maintenance of towers in those communities. In most cases, the towers are built by local environmental commissions in conjunction with municipal employees and community volunteers.

This project will assist efforts to help to bring back and protect the osprey, which continues to be listed as a threatened species in New Jersey. Verizon recognizes the need to provide returning young ospreys nesting opportunities near their place of birth. Over the past 18 months, Verizon has provided funding for nine other nesting towers in Monmouth and Ocean Counties.

“With more than 18,000 Verizon employees living and working in New Jersey, this is a great example of how our company gives back to those communities the company serves and where our employees live,” said Jennifer Young, external affairs director for Verizon’s Southern New Jersey region. “This is just one of several environmental initiatives at Verizon that are helping to protect and conserve wildlife and open space.”

In addition to providing funding for the towers, Verizon also will provide and pay for appropriate environmental education signage at the various osprey nesting sites.

The MAG: Science North talks turkey – Science in the North

It may be Thanksgiving, but let me assure you this column has nothing to do with the holiday. Actually, the science facts contained in this write-up could possibly make some people a little queasy (especially if shared around the supper table).

This article is all about the Turkey vulture, a fascinating bird which scavenges for food and has developed some interesting tactics for defending itself and keeping its body cool.

The Turkey vulture, which can be seen up-close this weekend at Science North as part of the Animals of the Great Lakes presentation in the Inco Cavern,

is a resident of Ontario. It has dark brown to black plumage, a featherless, purplish- red head and neck and a short, hooked, ivorycoloured beak.

It’s a big bird, too, weighing up to about two kilograms and has a wingspan that stretches between 173 to 183 centimetres.

The Turkey vulture’s body build makes it clumsy and awkward on the ground. Its walk is more of a hop, and taking flight requires a lot more hopping and plenty of wing flapping. However, once in the air, the Turkey vulture is extremely graceful and uses little effort. Tipping from side to side while in flight, the Turkey vulture barely flaps its wings and takes advantage of rising thermal columns (rising air) to soar.

Unlike most of its avian counterparts, the Turkey vulture has a keen sense of smell and can detect the scent of a rotting carcass from kilometres away. While this may sound disgusting to us, to a Turkey vulture, this is as inviting as any home-cooked holiday meal can be.

Turkey vultures are scavengers and rely almost entirely on carrion (dead animal carcasses) as a food source.

When it comes to defending themselves, or a carcass they’ve just found, Turkey vultures have adapted a unique way of warding off challengers. Since they do not have a syrinx (the vocal organ of bird) they can only hiss and produce low grunts. Not too scary, right? However come too close and you might be regurgitated upon. A Turkey vulture’s primary form of defense is to regurgitate semi-digested meat. If the foul smell isn’t enough to turn challengers away, the vomit can also sting the eyes.

Finally, there’s the way this bird cools itself down when the heat is on. A Turkey vulture excretes on its own legs, and uses the evaporation of the water in the mutes (feces and/or urine) to cool itself. The process is known as urohydrosis. Vultures, condors and storks all use this form of natural “air conditioning.”

Today and Sunday, the Turkey vulture, along with a caribou, a Golden Eagle and a skunk, will be at Science North. These animals will be presented during the hands-on and interactive sessions that will be held in the Inco Cavern. The animal presentations are free for Science North members and included with Science Centre admission. For a schedule, visit sciencenorth.ca/animals.

Busy preening itself on a rooftop in Scholar’s Walk, Rushall, the bird was photographed by shocked resident Susan Baker on her digital camera.

She said: “I went upstairs into the bedroom and glanced out of the window and saw it on the roof. It was quite a distance away but you could still see it was big.

“It was there for about 20 minutes before flying off in the direction of Aldridge and Brownhills.”

Mrs Baker added: “It was a total shock, the only time I have seen something like that before is in a Western film when you see them feeding on dead animals in the middle of nowhere. You don’t expect to see a vulture in Walsall.”

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) spokesman Ciaran Nelson has also seen the photographs of the sighting in Walsall.

He said: “We think it’s probably a black vulture – an American species.” We’ve some cracking birds of prey in England, but nothing that really compares to a vulture in terms of size.

“So I can imagine this must have been a bit of a shock for Susan when she spotted it.

“Someone else is also likely to be looking for this bird, though, as he or she is clearly an escapee from someone’s collection.”

He added: “We regularly get peregrine falcons in our city centres nowadays, but as for vultures in the suburbs – I think we’ve a few years to wait before that’s ever likely.”

The vulture was photographed on Tuesday, September 30, at 9.50am.

Wildlife parks such as West Midlands Safari Park, Dudley Zoo and others in the area said they knew nothing of an escaped vulture.

Vultures seldom attack healthy animals, but may kill the wounded or sick.

Vast numbers have been seen upon battlefields throughout history.

They gorge themselves on prey and sit, sleeping to digest their food.

Vultures are one of the fastest declining birds in the world.